Dragonnel couldn't tell Floid anymore about Givalich because he hasn't seen Givalich in all these centuries. Dragonnel apologized to Floid but Floid waved him away. Floid knew that Dragonnel didn't tell him everything, but Dragonnel tried his best to tell all the important parts. Dragonnel completely skipped over everything concerning his childhood with Givalich! Floid didn't need to know about those things so he would overlook them. Dragonnel was not comfortable talking about it so Floid would not bother asking. Although, Floid wondered why Dragonnel would go through all that trouble for someone that he said he wasn't close to. Dragonnel told Floid that he and Givalich never saw eye to eye, but he still came here and started to rampage because of her. Floid knew Dragonnel was impulsive, but Dragonnel isn't the sort of person to run into danger for no reason.
Floid asked Dragonnel and Alucard what they think they should do about Givalich. Dragonnel spoke up as he told Floid that they couldn't do much right now.
"Givalich is sealed here in Aradite so Elias is probably going to come back. We can only wait for him to come back. If he is on another continent like Mogul or Volcanica, we won't be able to do much to him, but once he steps foot in Aradite, then it will be easy to catch him,"
Alucard also added that they already sent out the sentries that Floid ordered them to send a long time ago. If any of the sentries notice Elias anywhere in Aradite, they will immediately inform them! Aradite is a very large continent, but that doesn't mean that Elias can just move around without anyone noticing him. If Elias does anything in the demon world then the demon lord will definitely know about it!
Floid nodded and accepted their advice. They were right. Elias was never hiding. He showed himself to Floid in the castle and he even attacked Pyra. If he comes back here it would be easy for the sentries to find him. In the meantime, Floid needs to focus on raising his power to repel the attack that might come from the undead. Floid asked Alucard if he had already taken care of Reginald's body. Reginald was already dead since Floid didn't have any need for him again so he just told Alucard to take care of the body.
Alucard nodded.
"I took care of the body exactly how you wanted me to. Although I'm a little curious about why you wanted it taken care of in that manner, master."
Floid only smiled at Alucard.
"As long as you've done as I instructed, that is fine. Leave, we need to start our training,"
Alucard bowed again and turned to leave. He was still curious about why the demon lord wanted Reginald to be handled in that specific manner but he wouldn't impose his curiosity on the demon lord. Alucard was sure that he would find out more about it later. For now, Alucard left as Dragonnel and Floid started their lessons.
...
On the other side of Aradite. The kingdom of Uta was in shambles as they heard the news about Aquinas and the invasion of the demons! The entire kingdom was put in a state of lockdown once they heard that Aquinas had been conquered by the demon lord in only one day! The kingdom of Aquinas was not small, and even if it was much smaller than Uta, it wasn't the sort of place that can be conquered in one day! Everyone in Uta was tensed and afraid as they thought about what sort of person the new demon lord is! How is it possible for him to take over an entire kingdom in one day!?
The scouts that went out to Aquinas to determine how much damage was done came back and reported that the entire kingdom of Aquinas was now shrouded in darkness. After Floid conquered Aquinas and gave it to the vampires, he used his power to cover the entire kingdom in the [Day Breaker] spell. It took more than an hour of spell casting and Floid had to absorb a lot of mana from the atmosphere to do it, but he was able to cast an extremely strong barrier over the entire kingdom. The kingdom of Aquinas was now shrouded in darkness and the vampires that ruled over it could move around freely anytime they wanted.
The scouts came back and told Priscilla about this development and she was shocked! She never thought that Aquinas would fall so quickly! Pricilla always knew that the king of Aquinas was useless! In fact, he was the worst king that Aquinas had ever had! But that is not enough for the kingdom to fall so quickly! Priscilla thought that even if the king was a horrible person, the other people in the kingdom should have done a better job than this! The king's brother is a strong fighter and even Freya and Maryleen are in the kingdom! Maryleen is a genius engineer and she made all those ships that Aquinas uses! They should have held off against the demons for longer than that! Was Freya's defensive barrier broken through that easily!?
There were no survivors or escapees from the kingdom of Aquinas and so no one could tell them exactly how the kingdom fell. All they know is that this is the fastest invasion that humans have ever suffered! No demon lord has ever destroyed a kingdom this quickly!
But this wasn't the only problem that Priscilla was suffering from. There was a rumor going around the kingdom that the people were blaming her for the invasion. It was a very well-known fact that Uta and Aquinas were allies. They have been fighting together against the demons for a very long time. People were wondering why Priscilla allowed her allies to suffer this sort of damage without sending help! Why didn't she go to help them!? Why did she just stay back and keep her army within the border?
It was a rumor that was quickly spreading around the kingdom and even though it wasn't enough to challenge her position, Priscilla wouldn't overlook it. She knew just how dangerous a rumor could be. It might just be a rumor right now, but humans are fickle things. They might start blaming her more and more as time goes by. They would say that she was not fit to be a ruler. They might even try to remove her from the position of ruler because they don't think she should be their queen anymore. The fear that all the humans were feeling would lead to them making irrational decisions and Priscilla just would not let that happen! She is the queen and she is the only one that has the right to be on this throne!
The only thing that Priscilla needed was a chance to show the people that she wasn't seating idly by. She needed them to know that she was trying to protect them!
She told the council of Uta that the only reason she couldn't send out soldiers to Aquinas was that the invasion happened too fast! She had to protect her borders so there is no way she could have protected Aquinas as well! It was just an unfortunate occurrence!
This is a lie!! Priscilla could have easily sent out soldiers from any of their outposts, but Priscilla just didn't want to lose any soldiers. If she sends out soldiers then who would protect them? If she sends out soldiers and those soldiers died, then their own fighting force would reduce and they would have also fallen when the demon lord attack them! She couldn't risk her life like that!
But Priscilla can't tell the people that! They are all idiots and they would start blaming her for being heartless when all she is trying to do is protect them! Those ungrateful bastards!
Priscilla knew that she would have to find a way to make them forget this incident, and she finally got the proper motivation to start doing something when she saw the heads that were hung at the gates of Uta. The heads were from the strongest soldiers in Aquinas. The prince was there, along with the head guard, the king, and the headmistress of the magic academy, Maryleen. It was an obvious declaration of war and Priscilla felt a shiver travel down her spine once she saw it. Those demons were not playing around. The current demon lord is nothing like that female demon queen we fought before! I'm still finding it hard to believe that it is Floid that is the current demon lord! How can Floid become a monster capable of something like this!?
Priscilla had to do something. She can't allow Floid to come to Uta at all. It would be a disaster. And Priscilla knew exactly what she had to do. It was the exact same ritual that she saw her father perform a long time ago and now she would also perform it.
Uta would summon a hero!
Priscilla searched through her father's archives. His study was filled with many books. But she was able to find the book containing the summoning ritual for the hero. Priscilla had never really looked at this book before because she never thought she would have to summon a hero, but she has to do it! Only a hero can save them from this mess!
There were some warnings inside the book for anyone that was about to perform the ritual. The first warning was that the ritual could only be performed twice a month. On the first moon and fifth moon of the month. The second thing was that anyone that wanted to perform the ritual must have large Mana reserves. You must make sure that you have a lot of Mana crystals around you so that you won't faint or die from Mana exhaustion. The third warning was that the ritual must be performed in secret!
[... There is a likelihood that the ritual will fail and the summoned hero will face a gruesome and painful death. You must perform this ritual away from the eyes of the public so they do not know about the dead heroes. Only show them the living hero that survives the ritual. You must ensure that you protect the image of the royals! The public must never know the gruesome things we do for their sake!]
These were the three warnings written in the book and Priscilla hummed with curiosity. So that is why there were always so many Mana stones being taken to the summoning room. Priscilla thought that the summoning room was sealed off because the summoner needed privacy, but she would have never guessed that her father was just making sure no one saw the dead heroes.
A light chuckle came out of her beautiful lips. This might actually be fun. It's like a game that they were playing with people's lives!
Can you survive, or will you die too?
Well, I suppose I shouldn't treat it like a game. I still need one of them to survive so that they can die for us!
Priscilla didn't know that the reason they were dying was that they couldn't handle Givalich's power, it wasn't written in the book and she didn't bother to learn the cause of their deaths! She just wanted to summon a hero as soon as possible so she can save her reputation! She turned and shouted to her attendant!
"Al! Gather the council and call the Grand commanders! We're having a meeting right now!"
Priscilla shouted this to the man standing outside her door and Al jolted in shock!
"Y-Your majesty! All of them!?"
Al was shocked that Priscilla wanted to call all of the Grand Commanders! The Grand Commanders all lived in different parts of the kingdom and it was very difficult to call them all to one place! Priscilla didn't even say anything as she gave Al a serious glare! Do I have to repeat myself?
Al squeaked once he saw the glare and he immediately scurried off to do as he was told! It would take a lot of time to call all of the Grand Commanders to the kingdom. They all lived far away so Al will have to send a summons to all of them immediately!!